Windows Phone roadmap confirms tentative strategy

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Microsoft has a lot of catching up to do in the mobile arena. Its defunct Windows Mobile got squashed by the iPhone, and its polished Windows Phone platform arrived late to the dance. For better or worse, Microsoft does have a plan regarding Windows Phone updates. A roadmap of that very plan, detailing where Windows Phone will be going in 2012, has been leaked.

In the leaked roadmap, we see that the next update, Tango, will arrive in the second quarter of 2012. It will focus on “products with the best prices,” which is corporate lingo for low-end phones. These devices will go head-to-head with cheap or free Android phones (which are everywhere) and Apple’s free iPhone 3GS.

The high-end update will be called Apollo, and it will launch in the fourth quarter of 2012. Its aims are to increase overall volume, support “superphones,” and to invade the business sector. If Tango is going after Android’s and iOS’s cheap phones, Apollo will go after their premium lineup.

We’ve previously questioned Microsoft’s low-end strategy, and none of that has changed with this roadmap. Starting with low-end phones denies the “halo effect” that has worked for both iOS and Android. It dictates that if you make something that’s amazing, people will also gravitate towards your other, less amazing, products.

What reason do customers have to pick up a low-end Windows Phone when the platform hasn’t taken off on the high-end? People buy cheap iOS and Android devices because they can get into the app ecosystems without as much investment. If you don’t have any iconic high-end devices to communicate premium quality (and a worthy app library), customers may not be impressed enough to care about your cheap phones. The approach is the polar opposite of the halo strategy.

Only time will tell if the strategy works, but it’s, to say the least, a questionable tactic. By the time Apollo launches (presumably with a high-end showcase device from Nokia), the iPhone 5 and the next Nexus phone (along with a billion other high-end Android phones) will already be on the market. The clock is ticking, and none of Microsoft’s players want to take the big shot.